I haven’t played video games in years. Not really. But this year, at a hint from my rockstar wife, my family bought me the one video game I really wanted to play: Starcraft II. It involves guys like this, wearing space-age, over-the-top battle armor like this, carrying huge guns like this, ripping their way through alien hordes.
There I was, defending my base against an onslaught of bat- and bug-like slimy alien invaders, when I started to get kind of ticked-off. They kept sending wave after wave of creepy crawlies to molest my beautiful base. I glared at them as I sent in a squadron to kill. They shouldn’t do that, I thought. Stupid aliens. I’m gonna kill them all. I’m gonna find their base and I’m gonna wipe them off the face of the map.
Here’s the funny thing. Although I could have won the level by just hanging on, wiping the aliens out was exactly what the makers of the game wanted me to do. I’d get a little gold star for going above and beyond. But my brain instantly went into passive mode. I had the conscious thought, Now, now. Don’t be aggressive. No need to take extreme measures. Just defend your base and don’t take it personally, it’s just a game.
How stupid is my brain?
UM. HELLO, I said, These are ALIENS. They are KILLING my PEOPLE. I am GOING to FIND them ALL and KILL them ALL, and you and your namby-pamby goody-two-shoes play-nice-ism can come back when the man’s work is done!!
So I did it. And it was glorious.
My take-away from the incident (aside from the fact that me and Smeagol should probably go to the same psychologist) was this — that there is a proper time and place for aggression: in defense of what is yours, in defense of good, and in opposition of evil. I don’t know where I got the idea that there wasn’t, but it’s been really fun rediscovering this over the past few years.
I think it really all started when my wife surprised me with tickets to go see 10,000 BC with my dad and my two big brothers. Have you seen that? If you’re a dude, see it. It’s a pretty lame movie, as far as plot, characters, dialogue, etc., but the story is simple and awesome: Dude loves girl. Girl gets kidnapped. Dude crosses the entire world and brings down an empire in order to save girl.
I loved it. And I realized there were things worth fighting for.
The reason all this comes up now is that I’m reading a book called No More Christian Nice Guy. This book isn’t for everyone, and I’ve had to skim or skip past unhelpful parts (largely about the problems with wives asking their husbands to be more feminine … my wife couldn’t be more in my corner if she tried). But the meat of it is this: God made men to be men, and that involves confrontation, strength, courage, and honesty. It is good for a man to want to fight against evil for what is good.
If this is the only thing I learn this year, I can see it benefiting my family, church, and community for years to come.
A little more war, please.
One response to “A little more war, please.”
win